Interlocking cap for foldable door



K. E. ROSENQUIST INTERLOCKING CAP FOR FOLDABLE DOOR June 23, 1970 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 17, 1968 Hi m June 23,..1970 K. E. ROSENQUIST.INTERLOCKING CAP FOR FOLDABLE DOOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 17, 19684/ FNVENTOR. K057 6. E066A/67U/57 A TTOEA/EVS United States Patent "ice3,516,473 INTERLOCKING CAP FOR FOLDABLE DOOR Kurt E. Rosenquist, PacificPalisades, Califi, assignor to Louverdrape, Inc., Santa Monica, Calif.,a corporation of California Filed Oct. 17, 1968, Ser. No. 777,958 Int.Cl. Ed /26 US. Cl. 160-183 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thisdisclosure relates to a cap which is afiixed to the upper portion ofeach panel in a vertical foldable panel door. This cap is useful withthe type of foldable doors which are hinged by some means which permitsvertical movement of one panel with respect to its adjacent panel. Thecap permits a panel to be vertically supported by the panel next to it,while still permitting a freedom of rotation around a non-concentricaxis at the hinge.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention is in the field of foldablepanels or doors made from a plurality of hinged vertical panels. The capis particularly useful on the type of panel where the hinge permits somevertical motion of one panel with respect to its adjacent panels. Someof the caps are provided with a glide member which fits into an overheadchannel or other holding means. This supported cap then is capable ofproviding vertical support to adjacent panels.

One type of foldable door with which this invention is particularlyuseful is disclosed in my co-pending application Ser. No. 701,910, filedIan. 31, 1968. With this hinge one panel is free to move vertically withrespect to its adjacent panels. This movement was prevented by providingeach panel with a glide clip and each panel was therefore separatelysupported in the vertical direction. It was found that this method ofsupport occasionally caused a binding when the doors were extended orcompacted. It was believed that this binding or stickingcould beprevented by placing a glide means only on alternate panels, but thisrequired an alternate means of providing vertical support to the panelswhich did not have a g ide member afiixed to them. When each panel isnot supported from above, support has been provided by prior art devicesby a lower track upon which the unsupported panels may ride. This hadseveral disadvantages in that it caused a substantial frictional drag,and also necessitated an unsightly and inconvenient track underneath thedoor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My invention permits the use of glide means ononly a portion of vertical panels which are hinged in a way whichpermits freedom of vertical movement. At one end of the cap there is anupper finger and at the other end of the cap is a lower finger. Whenthese caps are affixed to adjacent hinged panels, the upper finger restsabove the lower finger of the adjacent cap. This lower finger therebygives vertical support to the adjacent cap which in turn holds theadjacent panel. These upper and lower fingers are not hinged together,so that they permit a rotation at the hinge which is'not concentric. Thehorizontal movement of the door is not restricted by the cap, but onlyby the panels themselves. The caps are provided to accept a glide memberwhich may be used on alternate caps to result in a foldable door whichwill not bind. As a result of my invention, it is possible to utilizethe advantages of the type of hinge which permits vertical movement andyet need not be vertically supported by a glide member on each panel.

It is an object of my invention to provide a cap for a 3,516,473Patented June 23, 1970 vertical foldable door comprising a plurality ofslat members which are hinged in a way to permit vertical movement.

It is another object of my invention to provide an BRIEF DESCRIPTION OFTHE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view partly broken away showing afolding door in the extended position.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation partly broken away of the upper portion ofthe door shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the glide means shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective View partly broken away of the upper portion ofthe folding door panels shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view partly broken away of the interlocking capshown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view showing the folding door in a compactedposition.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged top plan view showing the hinged FIG. 11 is a viewtaken along line 11-11 of FIG. 2. FIG. 12 is a view taken along line12-12 of FIG. 2.'

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now to FIGS. 1 and 2,glide members 1 and 2 are placed on alternate panels 3 and 4, leavingpanel .5 with no vertical support from any glide member. In-' terlockingcaps numbers 6, 7 and 8 are affixed to folding door panels 3, 5 and 4.Glide members 1 and 2 I are supported by suspending track 9.

As shown in FIG. 5, each interlocking cap is pro- .vided with an upperfinger 20 and a lower finger21. The

upper. finger 20 will ride on top of the lower finger of its adjacentinterlocking cap, and the lower finger 21 will provide vertical supportfor the upper finger of its adjacent interlocking cap.'The interlockingcaps are provided with extensions 22 and 23 which permit the cap to beclipped into the openings 24 and 25 of the door panel shown in FIG. 4.The interlocking cap is also provided with an opening 26 which permitsthe entry of the glide member 27, which is shown in FIG. 3. The extendedportion 28 on the lower part of glide member 27 fits into opening 29 ofthe folding door panel shown in FIG. 4. This glide member is insertedafter the interlocking cap has ben clipped onto the folding door panel.

As can be seen in FIG. 6, interlocking cap number 7 is not provided witha glide member. Vertical support is provided for this interlocking capand the folding door panel which it supports by the adjacent glidemembers 1 and 2. These glide members hold interlocking caps 6 and 8 asshown in FIG. 2. This vertical support is provided to interlocking cap 7on one side through its upper finger 20, which rests upon interlockingcap 6 and on its other side by its lower finger 21 which rests onadjacent panel 4.

FIGS. 7 and 10 illustrate one type of hinge which is particularly usefulwith my invention. This type of hinge permits vertical movement ofadjacent panels but provides horizontal support. The function of thishinge is described in detail in my co-pending application Ser. No.701,910 filed Jan. 31, 1968.

FIG. 8 shows the details of suspending track 30 which is affixed to asuspending surface 31 through support 32.

FIG. 11 shows an interlocking cap 8 supporting a panel 4 by an extension22 which extends through an opening 24 in the panel 4.

FIG. 12 shows a glide member 2 extending into an interlocking cap 8 andholding a folding door panel 4.

It is preferable that the glide members he made from a plastic which hasgood lubricity and relatively high strength. I have found that nylon isparticularly useful in this application. The interlocking cap may bemade from a less expensive plastic such as polyvinylchloride. It is alsopossible to make the glide member an integral part of some of theinterlocking caps. In this instance it would be desirable to mold thepart from a plastic which had sufficient lubricity.

It is also within the scope of my invention to use methods such asriveting or gluing to affix the glide member either to an interlockingcap or to the folding door panel. It is also not necessary that theglide members be placed on alternate panels, but could be spaced furtherapart such as on every third panel.

It is also not necessary that the interlocking cap of my invention beused only with the hinge shown in the drawings. It is equally usefulwith any type of hinge which permits some substantial vertical motion,such as a fabric hinge. The hinge utilized with my invention need notpivot around a concentric axis. A substantial nonconcentric motion ispossible since the interlocking caps of my invention are free to moveover one another without being constricted by any pin.

It is apparent that the interlocking caps at either end of the foldingdoor should be modified to fit any half panels that are frequently usedin folding doors. Such end interlocking caps need only have oneextending finger.

The interlocking cap need not be snapped onto the folding door panel inthe method shown, but may be riveted or glued to the panel. The panelsneed not be used for folding doors, but may be utilized for any purposewhere an extending panel is desired.

The foregoing examples are not to be taken as limiting the scope of myinvention, but are merely illustrative of various embodiments. The scopeof this invention is therefore limited only by the lawful scope of theclaims which follow.

I claim:

1. In folding doors of the type which are made from a plurality ofhinged vertical panels, the hinges between said vertical panelspermitting vertical movement of one panel with respect to an adjacentpanel, but restricting horizontal movement, an interlocking cappermitting non-concentric rotation of said hinges comprising:

a vertical surface;

means for attaching said vertical surface to a vertical panel;

an upper horizontal finger extending from one end of the verticalsurface, and positioned so that said up- 4 per horizontal finger isvertically supported by the lower horizontal finger of an adjacentinterlocking cap; and I a lower horizontal finger extending from theother end of the vertical surface and positioned so that the lowerhorizontal finger rests on an upper part of an adjacent vertical panel.

2. In folding doors of the type which are made from a plurality ofhinged vertical panels, the hinges between said vertical panelspermitting vertical movement of one panel with respect to an adjacentpanel, but restricting horizontal movement, an interlocking cappermitting nonconcentric of said hinges comprising:

a vertical surface;

means for attaching said vertical surface to a vertical panel;

a lower horizontal finger extending from one end of the vertical surfaceand positioned so that it will provide vertical support to an upperhorizontal finger of an adjacent interlocking cap;

an upper horizontal finger extending from the other end of the verticalsurface and positioned so that it will prevent an upward verticalmovement of the lower horizontal finger of an adjacent interlocking cap;and

means for supporting a glide member whereby said interlocking cap may bevertically supported by a suspending track.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein said means for supporting a glidemember comprises an opening through which a glide member may be insertedand affixed to said vertical panel.

4. The structure of claim 2 wherein said means for supporting a glidemember comprises an integral molding of the glide member with theinterlocking cap.

5. A foldable panel door comprising:

a plurality of vertical panels, said vertical panels being hinged in amanner to permit vertical movement of one panel with respect to anadjacent panel;

an interlocking cap aifixed to the top of each vertical panel, saidinterlocking caps each having an upper horizontal finger at one end anda lower horizontal finger at its other end, said lower horizontal fingerbeing positioned so as to provide vertical support to an adjacent upperhorizontal finger, and further positioned to be supported by an adjacentvertical panel, and said upper horizontal finger being positioned sothat it may be supported vertically by an adjacent lower horizontalfinger said caps permitting non-concentric rotation of the hinges ofsaid vertical panels; and

means for afiixing glide means to at least one of said interlockingcaps. 6. The door of claim 5 wherein said glide means are placed onalternate interlocking caps.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,167,111 1/1965 Harris 199 X3,277,952 10/1966 Tsuhako 160 199 3,331,427 7/1967 Colombo 160206 X3,419,063 12/1968 Mock et al. 160--206 X DENNIS L. TAYLOR, PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R.

